Apr 29, 2018 3 min read

From Italy, Germany, and here in the United States, Elisa Penna, Jonas Heimann and Lauren James share a similarity: their time spent in Washington.

Differing customs in each country have left these students with new experiences and exposure to cultures that have provided them with a new perspective in their lives.

Elisa Penna is from Ancona, Italy, and she is currently spending her senior year at Washington High School. She will graduate from Wash High this June, and upon returning to Italy, will complete her 13th year of high school.

Elisa participates in many of Wash High’s extracurricular activities, including volleyball, track, basketball and the ski club.

Impressed by U.S. culture and the cities, Elisa said., “I do like [the] big cities with big buildings, Thanksgiving, the cinema, and the fact that everything can be a business and that [it] is a country with more than one culture.”

While Elisa enjoys her time here in America, she misses her family and her cat, Micio, back home.

Jonas Heimann currently resides in Germany and spent his sophomore year, 2016-17, in the United States. During his time in America, he was involved with tennis, computer programming classes, soccer and the Wash High band.

Jonas said he was shocked when he arrived in America, as the norms and foods are different than in Germany.

“They are a lot more open-minded than Germans are and a lot friendlier. And some of the food is very good, as well,” Jonas said.

While he was away from home, he missed traditional food such as “döner,” a German kebab-like food.

Lauren James is a graduate of Wash High and spent her junior year, 2015-16, in Italy. While Jonas was living in Washington, Lauren’s family was his host family.

When in Italy, Lauren experienced the contrasting curriculum between the U.S. and Italy.

“I was in the scientific high school, which meant that it was more STEM based than the classical high school. I feel like the students were more focused on learning because they were doing things that they were more interested in,” she said about her studies abroad.

Lauren also recalled that a difference she noticed was the tight-knit family units in Italy.

“My family abroad spent a lot more time as a family than my family at home does. My host mom cooked lunch for us every day and we all ate lunch and dinner together basically every day except for Saturdays,” she said.

These students have been exposed to cultures, traditions and norms that differ greatly from their own. Each have met many new friends, peers and leaders abroad that they will never forget.

Elisa, Jonas and Lauren had these experiences through the AFS Intercultural Program organization.

“Advice for future abroad students would be to get involved. Get involved in as many activities and as much of the community as you can,” said Lauren.

For more information on AFS, visit www.afsusa.org.

Written by Jordan Deems, Maci Ward, Nicole Bakaitis, Shaun Collins and Shay Harmon, students in the Washington High School College in High School sociology class